


It's Always the Quiet Ones

by SpaceCadetGlow



Category: Watchmen - All Media Types
Genre: Blood and Violence, Closeted Character, Gun Violence, M/M, Off-screen Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-28
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2018-04-17 14:39:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4670420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceCadetGlow/pseuds/SpaceCadetGlow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the prompt: "Someone apparently kills HJ on patrol, and is then very surprised to find their shit wrecked with unparalleled savagery by Captain Metropolis."</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Always the Quiet Ones

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for the Watchmen kinkmeme, which exists in its current iteration here: http://watchmen-km.dreamwidth.org/287.html. If you enjoy this story, please leave a comment; feedback makes my day!

Lefty Louie Jones bursts out of the bank, clutching his gun in one hand and the bag of cash in the other. Just around the corner waits Roy, his partner, and today, his getaway driver. Louie darts around the bend of the sidewalk, doing his best not to collide with anyone. The boss said there was an extra five percent in it for them if they did it clean, with no casualties to cover up. There's the car, the inconspicuous tan sedan-- 

_Shit._

Two of the Minutemen, damn them all, are there waiting for him. How the hell did they know? He recognizes them immediately from the photos in the papers and the row of eight well-used dartboards in the boss's office. Hooded Justice, and Captain Metropolis, the latter neatly cuffing Roy to the fender of the car.

Shit, shit, _shit_!

Louie does what any self-respecting half of a criminal partnership would do: skids to a halt and runs back the other way. Hooded Justice takes off after him, Metropolis only a few steps behind.

"Out of my way!" Louie yells, brandishing, making people scatter before him. He's making good speed, being smaller and quicker than Hooded Justice, but the so-called costumed hero has a longer stride, and in the end, it more or less evens out. Louie doesn't dare use his gun out in the open like this, and he's not so good a shot that he trusts himself to hit anything while running. He's got to find some cover, someplace he actually stands a chance.

He runs down the smaller side streets in the direction of the red light district. Most of the women aren't working yet, but even the afternoon lunch crowd knows that it's not a respectable place to be. In short, it's practically deserted. Louie glances over his shoulder. Hooded Justice is about half a block behind him, and Metropolis almost a full block behind his partner. Louie hadn't anticipated the big brute being so damn fast. He half expects Hooded Justice to call for him to stop in the name of the law, or something else stupid, but he doesn't; he just keeps bearing down on him, relentlessly.

He's approaching a little alley he knows, a narrow pass between a seedy hotel and a coffee shop. There's no way out of there, but he's got a fully loaded weapon, and at this point he's ready to use it. Forget the five percent -- he bets the boss will give him at least ten if he takes out two of the city's precious protectors. And maybe a promotion, something behind the scenes, no more risky bank jobs. 

Louie rounds the corner into the alley and dives behind the trash cans that stink of stale coffee grounds, holding his gun with two shaking hands. Predictably, Hooded Justice comes barreling the same way, and Louie fires. The gun jumps each time, a little more than he was prepared for, but fear and adrenaline keep it steady enough that some of the shots hit their target. Hooded Justice doesn't stop short and fall on the spot like in the war movies. Each connecting bullet jerks him back a little, but goddamnit, he keeps coming at him, until finally he loses his footing and collapses to the dirty concrete with the crack of bone.

 _How many shots was that?_ he thinks. He'd been firing wildly and he lost count of the spent shots, but he doesn't have time to check. Captain Metropolis is suddenly at the entrance of the alleyway, coming in at full speed. He spares no more than a glance at the man on the ground to confirm that he's shot and probably dead. Louie has no opportunity to use the gun again.

The concrete is even harder than it looked, as his body crashes down to meet it, Captain Metropolis coming down on top of him. The masked man strikes his arm in such a way that Louie involuntarily releases his hold on the gun, and Metropolis tosses it into the trash. The next thing he sees is a blur of yellow coming at his face, and abruptly, his jaw is no longer quite connected to his skull as it ought to be. There's a roaring in his ears as Metropolis throws punch after punch, and the man is screaming, _"killed him, you son of a bitch, you're dead,"_ and Louie believes it. He's fucking dead, going to die right here between the hotel and the coffee shop, and they're not even going to be able to identify his body. Joanie's gonna wonder why he doesn't come home, and she'll probably never find out.

~*~*~*~*~

The criminal's face is distorted, the jaw broken and the nose shattered, barely even a face anymore. Nelson's knee is firmly planted on his chest, and he can feel the scum's breathing growing more ragged as blood runs down his throat, choking him. His motions are all raw, wild energy, but the tactician in him knows exactly what he's doing. He's going to bash the bastard's face in until he hits the brain, and if that's not enough, he's going to break enough ribs to puncture both of his lungs. In either case, the criminal -- the _murderer_ \-- has about thirty seconds of life left, at best. 

Nelson's yellow gloves are stained bright, vivid red, so much blood on them that drops fly off to spatter on his face every time he draws back his fists. He can't hear anything except the wet sound of leather and flesh and bone. The bastard is almost done, he's stopped struggling, when suddenly there's a tug at his boot.

He whirls around, half-expecting, irrationally, the accomplice they'd cuffed to the car. But there's no one there, just empty space behind him. And then he hears it, no more than the shadow of a whisper, his name. In the blink of an eye, he's at Rolf's side, heart close to breaking from hope. 

"Nelly," Rolf breathes again. "Enough. Doctor."

Nelson makes a sound of relief and joy as he clutches at Rolf's hand. "Yes, yes, of course. My God, thank God." 

He strips off his gloves and dashes into the coffee shop. The woman behind the counter looks terrified and wordlessly points to the telephone when he asks to use it. It's not until he glances at his reflection in the mirror behind the counter that he realizes how wild he looks, blood spattered on his face and costume, his hair pointing every which way. He calls the police and demands to have an ambulance and Officer Mason sent to their location on the double. Then he grabs some napkins from the counter and quickly wipes his face before returning to the alley to wait.

He knows a little first aid, and hopefully it will be enough to hold Rolf together until the ambulance arrives. He uses his utility knife to cut his cape into bandages to staunch the bleeding and bind the three bullet wounds that he can see, but he suspects that Rolf's arm, trapped under him, had broken when he fell, and there's nothing he can do about that right now. Next, he uses some more of the fabric strips to gag the barely-conscious criminal and bind his hands. And finally, he waits by Rolf's side, murmuring to him, making sure he stays awake.

"I'm taking care of you, I'm not going to let anything happen to you. You're going to be fine, they're coming to make you well. Keep your eyes on my face, please, I'm here for you."

Luckily, Hollis arrives first, and blessedly alone in his patrol car. Nelson doesn't want to leave Rolf for long, so he runs to the mouth of the alley to meet Hollis and bring him back there as fast as he can.

"Hooded Justice is down and needs an ambulance," Nelson says, quickly and firmly. "I need you to help me get the man who shot him away from the scene before anyone else gets here." 

"What are you talking about, get him away?"

"I'm not turning him over to the police, not until I'm sure HJ is going to be alright."

Hollis lowers his voice and looks around before using Nelson's name. "Nell, _I'm_ the police."

"He shot HJ three times, at least," Nelson hisses. "I don't know if he's going to make it, and if he doesn't, then neither will the guy who shot him."

Hollis looks at him as if he can't believe he's serious. "That's not how we do things!" 

Nelson wishes, desperately, that he could explain. _What if it were Sally,_ he could say. But he has to make do with, "It is when it's your partner!"

"Nelly," Hollis says very calmly, "I'm going to take him into custody. He'll remain under my personal supervision, alright?"

"Hollis, don't do this," says Nelson. The adrenaline from the fight is wearing off, and it's getting hard to breathe. "I'm not going to let him sit pretty in some cell while HJ is fighting for his life. He's _mine_."

"I know it's terrible, but HJ knew the risks of the job," Hollis says, guiding him slowly back into the alley. "You'll have your revenge when the guy spends the rest of his life in jail."

"If I need revenge," Nelson says darkly, "he's not going to spend much time in jail at all, under your supervision or not."

~*~*~*~*~

Hollis can hear the siren of the ambulance growing close. He can't be Nite Owl in a cop's uniform when they arrive, he's got to be all cop. He grabs Nelly by the shoulders and forces him to look at him. "Nelly, pull it together. You can't be talking like that when they get here, you understand? It's bad enough you've got blood all over your costume, you can't be threatening to kill people, or they're going to take you in too. Got it?"

Nelson looks like he's going to argue, then draws in a long, shaky breath, and nods. 

"Okay. Let's get the guy in cuffs, then." His heart goes out to Nelly, it really does. He's worried about Hooded Justice also. It's a tough city, but HJ is tough too, and if anyone could take a couple of bullets and pull through, he's betting it would be him.

He goes to check on Hooded Justice, but the state of the shooter demands his attention. He could not have prepared himself for what Nelson did to the man.

"Jesus Christ," he says as the ambulance pulls up. "You sure you didn't do him in already?" 

Nelson doesn't hear him, or doesn't care to answer; he's crouched at HJ's side, saying, "You're going to be fine, okay? Stay with me, please look at me. Come on, stay with me." He's clasping HJ's hand with both of his own, peering earnestly into the other man's eyes, and it's got to be one of the saddest things Hollis has ever seen or heard.

He undoes the blood-soaked strips of Nelson's cape before anyone sees the crude way Captain Metropolis had tied the criminal up. The guy doesn't need to be cuffed; what he needs is to be taken to the hospital, and Nelson will just have to be alright with both of the wounded men sharing an ambulance.

"We need two stretchers back here!" he yells to the paramedics. They load HJ first, two of them and Nelson heaving the massive man onto the gurney. Nelson glowers at them when they return for the would-be murderer.

"The gun's in the trash can, Officer Mason," Nelson says flatly, and then he's rushing off back to the ambulance, jumping in the back with his partner. Hollis can hear him arguing with the paramedic: "Don't take off his hood, I can't let you do that. Alright. Yes, of course, I understand. I'm sorry, do whatever you need to save him… but if you can avoid taking off the hood…"

As the ambulance takes off, Hollis prays that both of them survive. He's never seen Nelson like that before, never seen his blustering but mild-mannered friend so violent and cold, and never imagined that he could be that way. But then, the two men are the closest of friends, and Hollis has never had a partner whom he was very close with. He knew if it had been Sally, like it or not, he'd probably react that way too… though that's not exactly the same.

He gets into his own car and turns on the siren, following the ambulance to its destination.

**Author's Note:**

> How it all ends is up to you, but in my head, they both survive and Hollis never puts two and two together... not for many years, anyway. :)


End file.
